Reversing a granular flow on a vibratory conveyor

TL;DR

This paper investigates the complex transport behavior of granular materials on vibratory conveyors, revealing non-monotonous velocity dependence and flow reversal phenomena through experimental analysis.

Contribution

It provides new experimental insights into the non-linear and reversal behaviors of granular flow on vibratory conveyors under circular oscillations.

Findings

Transport velocity shows two maxima with a regime of slow flow in between.

Flow reversal occurs within a specific driving range for certain granular materials.

Glass beads consistently move in the same direction regardless of acceleration.

Abstract

Experimental results are presented on the transport properties of granular materials on a vibratory conveyor. For circular oscillations of the shaking trough a non-monotonous dependence of the transport velocity on the normalized acceleration is observed. Two maxima are separated by a regime, where the granular flow is much slower and, in a certain driving range, even reverses its direction. A similar behavior is found for a single solid body with a low coefficient of restitution, whereas an individual glass bead of 1 mm diameter is propagated in the same direction for all accelerations.